The Angel of Darkness Continues
by Eclipse
Summary: There's new beginning to the ending of Angel of Darkness, what lies ahead for Lara? I have the next awaited chapter up, Chapter Five: The Return to the Louvre.
1. Default Chapter

The Angel of Darkness Continues:  
  
- Note this take place at the end of Angel of Darkness with a slightly different ending to everything. Also this chapter and the next two as well have been slightly modified and grammatical errors fixed. -  
  
Prologue: A Surprise Beginning  
  
Inside Eckhardt's Lab, Lara had just defeated Joachim Karel and the Sleeper, which led to the extinction of the entire Nephilim race. Everything in the room disappeared in a bright flash of light, causing Lara to shield her eyes. After the light dimmed, Lara found herself in a very empty room with only walls and a floor. Lara then discovered that she was back where she last saw Kurtis. She walked toward the center of the room, to see him lying there unconscious next to his Chirugai. She immediately bent down next to him to confirm that he was unconscious, causing tears to form and fall from her eyes. Lara shook Kurtis desperately trying to wake him up, but there was no response from him.  
  
The tears continued falling down her cheeks as she shook him one more time repeatedly calling out his name. She put her hand against his cheek, and whispered, "Kurtis please wake up." While she said that Kurtis took her hand in his and laid it over his heart, and whispered, "Lara.." Lara heard her name, and suddenly took notice to where her hand was placed and that his hand was over hers. "Kurtis, can you hear me?" "Yes." Lara looked at his face, while Kurtis moved his hand up to cup her cheek. He slowly opened his eyes, and said, "You still look as pretty as ever, Lara." Lara blushed and said, "Thank you, Kurtis." "Your wel.come, uh." Before Lara could say anything, he took her hand again and put it over the wound from the Boaz fight.  
  
"Is this real, and are you real?" "Yes, I'm real, although I don't really know how I got here." "You sure that you're not that Karel?" "No, it's really me Lara, besides I really think that Karel is gone for good." "I'm sorry I doubted you." "It's okay, I understand, especially with all that we've been through," he replied as he showed her a weak but cute smile. Lara then noticed that Kurtis was still bleeding, so she inquired, "What happened to you Kurtis, are you going to be okay." "I underestimated Boaz by making the crucial mistake of turning my back on her, when I thought she was dead and lifeless, and in her dying breath she impaled me with her claw. So I threw my disc to decapitate her, although.I uh." "Kurtis, please hang in there." "I'm sorry, Lara, but I'm in so much pain."  
  
The tears continued to run down her face, and Lara confessed, "I really care about you, Kurtis, and I really had high hopes in meeting up with again, after all this was over." A few tears fell from his eyes, "Lara, I'm really glad that I met you, and I'll never forget you." "Please don't do this, not now, I'll help you get out of here, and we can get you help. Don't you remember that time you disarmed me back in Louvre Gallery, we almost kissed each other, didn't we?" "Yes, I know we haven't really known each other that long, and we've been to hell and back again together...uh." "What are you trying to say?" "This may be a very odd question, but Lara, do you love me?" "I said I care about you, Kurtis." "I was wandering if someone loved me, like I seemed to have fallen in love..." as he began to loose conscious from the immense pain from his wound. "Kurtis, you."  
  
The tears fell from his eyes, as what seemed like his last words were "I love you, Lara." Lara gently held him close to her, and cried out, "Kurtis.." She kissed him ever so softly, and whispered, "I love you, too Kurtis." Kurtis coughed a little and whispered back, "I'm loved." There was a sudden voice that could be heard, and it said, "Thank you so much both of you, in stopping the Nephilim race from continuing." Kurtis slowly said, "That my father, Konstantin's voice." "What happened to your father, Kurtis?" Before Kurtis could answer, his father spoke up and said, "I was murdered by Eckhardt two years ago, and I sent a couple of things to Kurtis to help him bring down Eckhardt, and mostly importantly, Joachim Karel. Then I see he met you Ms. Lara Croft, daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft, and she helped you succeed." "Father.I failed you, because she defeated Eckhardt and Karel, not me." Lara stepped in and said, "If it wasn't for you helping me out, I never would have made it this far." "See my son, you haven't failed me, in fact, you have made me very proud." "Yeah, but I'm not.uh.doing very well." "What you did for Lara, was very courageous and it shows me that you care about her."  
  
Then there was a dim light showing that there was a shadow of his father appear in front of them. "I see a very good reason, why you deserve this wish that I'm about to grant you." Kurtis began fading away more and more, while Lara protested, "Kurtis hang in there." His father held his hand out and said, "Farewell and good luck to you both, and it was nice meeting Lara." As his father faded away, Kurtis began to violently shake in Lara's arms. "Lara, please hold me closer." She honored his request as he continued to shake for a while, and a loud cry of pain escaped his lips. After a little while, Lara took a glance at Kurtis wound, and noticed that it disappeared. Lara called out to him, "Kurtis, can you hear me?" He looked at her, while she took her hand and moved his hand over where his wound was. "I'm healed, but how." "I'm not really sure, but I think your father had a part in it." "My father is dead, Lara, so how could he?" "I'm not sure of that either, but we just had brief conversation with him, and that's was the first time I ever knew about your father."  
  
A few minutes later, Lara helped Kurtis up and said, "I'm so glad that you're going to be alright, Kurtis." "Yeah it is, and wait." "What?" He leaned up against Lara with one arm around her, and she had one around him helping him. Kurtis then handed his Chirugai to Lara, and said, "See if it reacts to your aura, like it does with me." "Um, okay," as she took the Chirugai from him, it reacted with her. So she handed it back to him, and he mentioned, "I'll teach you how to use it, sometime." "Okay." "So shall we go, Lara." "Yes, let's go." Together they walked towards the doorway and into the darkness with Lara still helping him walk. "So where to, Lara." "I don't know, back to Paris, Prague, one of our places." "Where are you from again." "A part of England, you?" "I'm from the Utah Salt Flats in the USA." "Oh, that's cool." They continued to walk into what seemed like an endless pool of darkness, when there was a sudden bright flash of light. 


	2. Chaper One: A New Start

The Angel of Darkness Continues:  
  
Chapter One: A New Start  
  
After a few moments and the bright light diminished, and Kurtis held his hand out to mention, "It's snowing." "Where are we, Kurtis?" "I really don't know, but I do know that it's really cold here." "Yes it is." As they walk down the sidewalk in this unknown city, that was apparently cold and snowy. Kurtis spoke up and said, "I'm feeling a little tired, too." "So where could we rest at." Kurtis surveyed the area and pointed to a nearby Prague hotel. "How about their, Lara." 'Okay, but do we have enough money?" "I know this isn't the most romantic thing to say, but don't worry about it." "But Kurtis." "Lara, please calm down, everything will be okay, okay." "Um, okay." "I know I'm not in the best shape right now, but please have faith in me, Lara." They stopped walking and Lara turned towards Kurtis to say, "I'm sorry." Kurtis did his cute smile and said, "It's okay," as he gave her a sweet kiss on the cheek. "Why do I feel so scared?" "I don't know why exactly, but I do know we had been through a lot to make it to where we are now."  
  
Five minutes pass and they are now entering the nearby hotel. They paid the clerk at the front desk, got the key to their room, and then made there way up the stairs to the room. Inside their hotel room, Kurtis said, "I'll sleep on the floor, and you can have the bed, is that okay with you." "Why don't I let you have the bed, and I'll take the floor." "Well instead of arguing over who sleeps where, because I know were both really tired. So why don't we share the bed, is that okay?" "That's fine." Kurtis made his way over towards the bed all on his own, when he started to falter a little. Lara hurried over to him to help him sit down on the bed, "Are you okay?" "I think so, thank you." "Your welcome." Kurtis gave Lara a sweet kiss on the lips, too as a thank you. Lara found herself returning his kiss, but he broke it off to mention, "This may seem very awkward at this moment, because of our feelings for each other, but I think we should be a little more careful." "No, it's okay, and understandable," mentioned Lara. "Although, you could help me take my two shirts off." "But Kurtis, I thought." He held his finger to her lips, and said, "Hush, and trust me."  
  
"Okay, but.." Kurtis smiled a little and said, "Remember, I do love you Lara, and we should try to get to know each other some more first, which does make sense if you think about it." "Yes, it make sense," she stated as she made her way back around to the other side of the bed. Where she stripped her shorts and shoes off, and crawled into bed. Kurtis got up off the bed slowly, and made his way over to the nearest chair in the room. Although on his way there he stumbled a little, but he made it there all on his own. Then he took his shoes off and Lara mentioned, "Kurtis where are you?" "I'm over in this chair, thinking." "Thinking about what?" "Like why I am still alive, and why can't I let myself be close to you." as a small tear ran down his face. "Oh, I didn't mean to." He interrupted, "It's okay Lara, just try to get some sleep." "Kurtis, please come back over here, so you can get some sleep."  
  
He didn't answer, as he was too deep in thought with what he told Lara, but she sneaked her way over to him. She sat on the floor near him, and somewhat did her best to curl up with him. Kurtis didn't seem to notice her at first, while Lara stayed there trying to comfort Kurtis by being near him. Lara mentioned, "If it's any consolation to what your thinking about, I'm glad that you alive, because I really was worried about loosing you." "Do you mean that, Lara?" "Yes, I do." "Oh, Lara you sure are a really nice person." "Thank you, Kurtis, and you know you are too. So, when's your birthday?" "June 26, you?" "February 14, and what's your last name?" "Trent." "You seem easy to talk, too." "I try to be." "This may be a little bit of personal question, but how did you get involved with the Lux Veritatis?" "My father, and I started training when I was three years old. Also it had been an ancient order that was being tracked down by Eckhardt and the Cabal." "Oh, and is that how you learned to control your Chirugai?" "Yes, and a couple of psychic talents that I wish I could be rid of." "What kind of talents?"  
  
"Well, telekinesis and a Farsee ability, which gives me a glimpse of something I can't reach or of a sudden danger." "Do you have anything you'd like to know about me?" "Um, how did ever get interest in Tomb Raiding?" Well I'm a natural athlete, and I discovered I had a passion for firearms. I was a bit of a rebellious girl at home because of my aristocratic family and in school, since I went to such prestigious ones. I also had an interest in archeological things, and that's how was introduced to Werner Von Croy." "What do you mean by prestigious schools?" "I had private tutoring, went to Wimbledon High School for girls, then to Gordonstoun Boarding School, and finally Swiss Finishing School." "Oh my, I can see why you were rebellious young girl. Anyway, when I was 16, I underwent the most intense stages of the Lux Veritatis training, then at 19 I disappeared and joined a Foreign Legion. I remained hidden within there for five years, and that's when I was nicknamed, "Demon Hunter." A few years later, I became a mercenary and heard from my father for the last time, because I never saw him alive again. A couple years ago when Eckhardt ruthlessly murdered my father, I got my wake up call to get revenge for his death, and to keep the Nephillim race from continuing."  
  
"You sound like you had a hard life, like I did, but all we both wanted was to just be free, if you know what you mean." "Yeah, I know what you mean." "Wasn't this nice talking to each other, Kurtis?" "Yeah, sure why not." "Oh yeah, in cause you were wandering how I inherited the large Croft mansion in Surrey from my Aunt. I also you used like the idea of being alone, until a shadow was cast over my life." "What kind of shadow?" "After one particular trip to Egypt, I went missing and people presumed that I was dead. So when I came to Paris to talk to Von Croy, he was murdered and I got blamed for it. So I've been running for my life, leading a life of darkness to try and clear my name, then I met you." "And then what?" "Well for first time it was really nice to have someone help me, and to not be alone anymore." "Oh, you're welcome." "Also you're the first guy that wants something more of me, then just my body." "I would never dream of being with a girl just for her body, that's wrong, and you can't exactly have a healthy relationship like that. In fact most girls that tried to go out with me, wanted me for that reason, so I declined a lot of them, and then there's you. There's something so different about you that interests me."  
  
Lara looked up at Kurtis as they continued their conversation. "Oh." "Yeah, you seem to care about me, for who I am, and not just want I look like. Also I didn't really think I'd ever fall in love with someone, and be loved in return, so I don't ever really know what to do. Since I never really had that many girlfriends before." "Well I never really thought I find someone to fall in love with for all the right reasons, instead of all the wrong ones. I had only a couple relationships, none of which really lasted very long, because of the type they were." "What type is that, if you don't mind me asking?" "Where it's love for sex and all the other wrong reasons," she answered as tears ran down her face. "I'm sorry," Kurtis stated, as he used what little strength he had to pick her up and sit her in his lap. Then he wiped the tears out of her eyes, and said, "You've got me now, and I'm going to try to be as good as I can be. Although you do sometimes intrigue me, into being intimate, but I just don't know what's right or wrong." "You mean like going to far too soon, or at the right time. Or do you mean, you're afraid of letting it get too serious too quick, and that it's like the main part of the relationship." "Yeah something like that, although right now I wouldn't mind kissing you and then going to bed."  
  
"I like that you look at me differently, too." "What do you mean?" "You don't just stare at certain parts of me, you look at me for me." Kurtis flashed her a cute smile as he went to kiss her, but didn't realize that they were going to deepen it without realize it. He broke the kiss, then carefully picked her up, and carried her over to the bed. Lara crawled into bed, and Kurtis said, "Goodnight Lara." "Goodnight Kurtis, but where are you going to sleep?" "In the chair like I originally intended too." "Um okay, but why can't you sleep here, it would be warmer." "Yeah I know, but I'm afraid too." "Why is that?" "Well I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but I've never slept in the same bed with a girl before, and also I've um.well nevermind." Lara decided to leave that well enough alone, because she was letting herself fall asleep. While Kurtis sat in the chair again, and used the cover on the chair to keep warm and he too feel asleep. 


	3. Chapter Two: Kurtis' Nightmare

The Angel of Darkness Continues:  
  
- This chapter has been modified and rewritten, and should be re-read in order to understand the rest of the story, if you've read the previous version of this chapter. -  
  
Chapter Two: Kurtis' Nightmare  
  
Halfway through night Kurtis began to toss and turn in the chair he was sleeping in. He began Farsee seeing things in his dream that really seemed to scare him.  
* Some place in the heart of Prague, Marten Gundersen, a veteran and head of an organization known as the Agency, was talking to someone with a little resemblance to Joachim Karel. "Mr. Gundersen, how would like to be employed with a job that involves getting even with a couple miscreants that ruined the revival of the Nephillim race." "Sir, I thought you were dead." "I am not Joachim Karel." "Then who are you, sir?" "My name is Nicholi Karel, I am Joachim long lost brother." "He never mentioned you, sir?" "Oh well, that's Joachim for you, a selfish and heartless person who never had much to do with his family. The only thing we shared was the same Nephilim blood and goal to revive the Sleeper." "Sir, the Sleeper was destroyed along with your brother." "Yes, but no one ever knew about an ancient meteorite that can show us where the other Sleeper is, and when you place it in the Sleepers hands it revives it." "Joachim, never mentioned anything about that." "That because he didn't know about it, only I did, and because he never talked to me, that's why he failed to revive the Nephilim race." "Why is there another Sleeper?" "The Nephilim race created two Sleepers in case one was destroyed, and they also had two different methods in finding and reviving each of them, as well." "So are you interested or not?"  
  
They were both sitting down at the table, where the Cabal organization used to gather around, back when more of them were alive. "I don't mean to be rude, sir, but who are you really?" Karel revealed his true face for a brief moment and then turned back to what he look like before. "I'm part of the Nephillim race, and I want to try again to find and revive this other Sleeper, and revive that race, as well. Although in order to so, we need a team or someone to go and retrieve the meteorite known as "Nepherium," which is buried in the heart of Siberia. And to have another team go and retrieve the other meteorite known as "Malpherium," which is buried in the heart of Amazon Rainforest." "Why are there two meteorites?" "One is revives the Nephilim race, and the other one when joined with the other destroys everything Nephilim race affiliated. After that, it then destroys both of the meteorites, so that no can revive the race ever again." "Sir, what about Mrs. Croft and Mr. Trent." "You mean the two that destroyed my brothers plan, well we could eliminate them, but what would the fun of that be." "Are you suggesting that we could use one of them to help us?"  
  
A few minutes pass, and Karel mentions, "Yes, we could kidnap one of them, brainwash them, and put them to work for us, and then we could use one to lure in the other to eliminate them." "Sir, if we do that we will need to be careful, so they don't meddle themselves in what were doing." "That's why we will dispose of them, when the time is right." "Yeah, but Mrs. Croft as proven to be quite an agile opponent, and she did help a little before, until what seemed like the end of everything." "What about Mr. Trent?" "Well first of all, I thought he was presumed to be dead, because of that fight he had with Boaz." "Who do propose works with us?" "I propose we get Mrs. Croft to work for us, and then use her as bait to lure Mr. Trent in." "Then eradicated them, sir." "Precisely, what I had in mind." "Sir, what if he gets to the meteorite that counteracts the other one?" "I would like you to meet, Mrs. Vorchincov, she's a highly trained assassin in tactical espionage from Russia." She walked into room, and stated, "Please to you meet you, Mr. Gunderson, my name is Mila Vorchincov." "Mrs. Vorchincov will help us bring Lara in, and to keep Mr. Trent out of our way for a while." "Mr. Karel, sir?" "Yes." "I will leave immediately and kidnap Lady Croft, but you must promise me that Mr. Gunderson will stay out of my way, unless I need his help." "Certainly, you understand that Mr. Gunderson." "Yes, sir." So Mila left to collect what items and weapons she needed to complete her mission, and then she was on her way.  
  
"Mr. Gunderson I will need a special team of yours to help reconstruct the Lab." "I can get right on that, sir." "Oh Mr. Gundersen, please do not fail me, or you will suffer the same fates Joachim's crew did." "Yes sir, I fully understand." "I will keep in touch with you periodically, to see how things are going." "Alright, and one last question, sir." "And that is?" "What if Mr. Trent finds out about the one meteorite that can destroy the other?" "Mrs. Vorchincov will take care of that, and if she needs your help she let you know. Although you can have a few elite teams ready and on standby, so when there needed there ready." "Yes, sir." "Now please be on your way, and please do not disappoint me." "I won't sir." Mr. Gundersen left the room to do what he was told, while Karel thought to himself, "This time Mrs. Croft and Mr. Trent, you will not be so lucky in winning." Then Karel got up from the table, and went on with what he had to do. *  
  
Kurtis began sweating profusely, and screamed out, "You can't have her." This woke Lara up, and she looked over at Kurtis. "This can't be real, no way it can be real," he yelled out in his sleep. Lara notice that he was sweating, tossing and turning, which began worrying her that there was something more to this nightmare of his. Lara got out of bed without seeing what time it is, and ran over to Kurtis. "Can you hear me, Kurtis?" He repeated, "You can't have her." She shook him gently and pleaded, "Kurtis, please wake up." He didn't respond to that, so she shook him a little harder, and cried out to him, "Kurtis, wake up!" Kurtis began to hear a faint voice that sounded like Lara's calling out to him, but had trouble replying and waking up. Lara went into the kitchen to get a cold towel, and brought it back into the room. She took the cover off, which in turn spooked him, and then she proceeded to use the towel to help cool and calm him down. He unconsciously swatted at whatever or whoever was touching him, which seem to have hurt Lara. She stepped back from him, and then began crying from the pain in her heart and her cheek, because of him hitting her.  
  
Although Lara couldn't find it inside herself to hit him back, and she began to realize that he was still asleep when he did it, so he probably didn't realize what he was doing. Lara cried in the most desperate plea, "Damn it, Kurtis wake up!" She decided to go again with what she thought about doing, so as she was about to slap him back, he suddenly grabbed her hand. He was in the process of waking up and said, "Lara.I'm really sorry for hitting you, I really didn't mean to, but." "But what?" "I was having a really scary nightmare." "What was it about?" "It was like I was having Farsee vision in my nightmare, of Karel and Gundersen conjuring up a plan to revive this other Sleeper, and to have us out of the way." "You mean to tell me, that you really think you saw something, that's going to happen." "I hope not, but I really fear that it is going to happen. Although, whatever happens, you and I need to stay close together, to keep them from separating us."  
  
Lara had already stopped crying, and accepted his apology. "Kurtis, please explain that thing you said?" "They plan on separating us.. and." He was snapped out of his train of thought, by another vision appearing in his mind briefly. Lara saw the concerned look on his face and asked, "Kurtis, what's wrong?" "We're not safe her anymore, because I had a brief vision of some woman and an army are coming this way." "Where should we go?" "I don't know, Lara, and honestly I'm really scared that's this is all going to come true in matter of hours." "We could go back to Paris, and research whatever they talked about in your nightmare," suggested Lara. "That's a good idea Lara, we can head for Paris, and it will at least get us out of Prague." "Who do you think is after us?" "Mila Vorchnicov, who according to the nightmare, is highly trained assassin in tactical espionage from Russia. The army must be men of Gundersen, from the Agency." "Oh my, and we don't even have any weapons to fight back with, do we?" "We only have my Chirugai, which can hopefully by us some time, if we get in a tight situation."  
  
In the meantime, Mila Vorchnicov contacted Mr. Gundersen via cell phone. "Mr. Gundersen, this is Mila, I have a special request I need to ask of you." "And that is, Mrs. Vorchnicov?" "Could you send an elite team out here, so I can kidnap Lady Croft?" "I thought you could handle it yourself." "I can, but I think that having some of your forces down here, will distract them and make them think that's who's after them, not me. Does that make sense to you, Mr. Gundersen?" "Yes, ma'am it does." "So can you do that for me, Mr. Gundersen." "Yes, Mrs. Vorchnicov, I'm sending out some of my elite teams now." "Vorchnicov, out." She hung up the phone, and continued on with her task, while Mr. Gundersen sent out orders for a couple of his elite teams to head out, with what he told them to do. 


	4. Chapter Three: No Place to Hide

The Angel of Darkness Continues:  
  
Chapter Three: No Place to Hide  
  
A couple hours later it was now late morning even though it was still dark outside, Kurtis mentioned, "We need to get dressed as quickly as possible, and get out of here." "Um okay." They both got completely dressed quickly, and gathered what little things they had with them. Lara asked, "Are we still planing on going to Paris?" "I don't know yet exactly, but probably so that were out of Prague." "Alright." Then they left the room, to go downstairs to return the key to the guy at the front desk, when Lara said, "He's been murdered." "Oh no, there closer than I had anticipated." They immediately ran outside, and Kurtis looked around for his motorcycle. "Hey, isn't that your motorcycle, Kurtis?" "It is." They hurried over to it, hopped on, and Kurtis revved up the engine to take off. Lara said, "Kurtis look out." Kurtis carefully took a quick turn down a side street, but found out that wasn't such a good idea. There seemed to be soldiers wherever the seemed to go. "These guys don't give up do they."  
  
Kurtis kept driving down so many streets, and said, "It seems like there's no way out of here. It's like they have the whole area under quarantine." Lara pointed to a narrow alley, and said, "Let's try down there." "Okay, and what weapons to we have, if any?" "Your Chirugai." "Well then, I guess our only way out of here is with the Chirugai then." He went down the alley and said, "Lara, hold on tight." "Okay," as she held him tighter, he vaulted over something blocking the road. He kept on going and said, "So far so good, I guess." "It seems that way." He continued making his way out of the city, even though it seemed like he had been driving for what seemed like eternity. "Are we out of Prague, yet." "I'm not sure, exactly." Although little did they know there was a helicopter following them, but Kurtis kept on making it out of this infernal city, no matter what.  
  
Lara began to hear something, so she looked around a little, when she noticed a light following them. She looked up towards the sky, and said, "Kurtis, we have a slight problem." "What is it, Lara?" "There seems to be a helicopter following us, wherever we go." "Shit, that is a problem." "Is there anywhere we could hide?" "That may not exactly work, because no matter where we go, it's seems like there hot on our trail." As they continued down the current street there were on, they took a sudden left turn, and sped up a little to try a loose the helicopter, or at least confuse it. Although where they were heading to seemed to be a trap, because Lara quickly stated, "Kurtis use your weapon, to knock them out of the way." "Okay." He somehow controlled his weapon, and threw it towards the soldiers while driving, knocking them all down. "Lara here it comes, catch it as we turn." "Okay," she replied, and as he turned she caught the Chirugai.  
  
After at least an hour of what seemed like hopeless and endless driving around trying to loose those soldiers, they found themselves in what seemed to be the outskirts of Prague, headed for the countryside. As they neared the countryside, Kurtis had another vision. Lara asked, "Kurtis you alright." He didn't answer her at first, and then he snapped back to reality quickly to steer away from where they almost crashed. "Lara, I had another vision, this time not a very pleasant one." "What happened?" "Mr. Gundersen, really has this whole city blocked, so that no one can come in or out, and with who there block it with, there's no way we can break through it. Meaning, not even breaking through with my Chirugai." In a matter of minutes, the helicopter was hot on their trial again, and this time there was sniper aiming at Lara. Mr. Gundersen accompanied some of his men, in the helicopter, and said, "Fire, when ready." "Yes sir," the sniper replied, checking his sights again to make sure he had a clear target of her.  
  
The sniper fired two shots at Lara, and before she realized what hit her she lost consciousness causing her to let go of Kurtis and fall off. Kurtis stopped the bike immediately and did a 360-degree turn, to go back and get her. Meanwhile, Gundersen called over the radio with the location of where Lara fell, and said, "Bring me Mrs. Croft alive, immediately, before Mr. Trent gets to her." Some soldiers quickly moved in towards Lara, in a desperate move Kurtis jumped off his bike and ran towards her. The soldiers close in on her a lot faster then Kurtis was, and yells out in fury, "YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" He brings out his Chirugai and throws it right at them, as he continued running towards her. Kurtis caught his weapon, sheathed it away, picked up Lara, and made a run for it. Before the soldier knew what hit them, they dropped like flies from his weapon, while Kurtis held Lara in front of her as he drove away on his bike again.  
  
"Hold on Lara, I'm going to get us out of here," as he sped towards the countryside again, whether they were blocking it or not. He was about to risk his life by keeping her away from them, so he used telekinesis to fire his Chirugai at the something that created a way for him to vault over the blockade. He carefully positioned the bike, to go up and over the blockade, using his telekinesis to retrieve and sheath his Chirugai. As he flew over the blockade, while Mr. Gundersen ordered, "Fire at them, immediately." The soldiers fired at them, and as the bike landed it threw Kurtis and Lara off. Kurtis got up to notice that his bike was about to blow up, so he ran to Lara, who was still unconscious from what must have been sleeping darts. While he ran with her in his arms, Mr. Gundersen ordered the pilot to land over in the field, and radio out, "All soldiers in the immediate vicinity of our targets, charge after them. Remember I want Mrs. Croft alive, and leave Mr. Trent behind, but make sure he's alive too. Now go, and do not disappoint me."  
  
The elite soldiers dispatch themselves and quickly closed in on their targets. This continued for several minutes, and Mr. Gundersen said, "Shoot Trent down now!" Kurtis continued running and running despite how tired he was getting, since he was carrying Lara as he ran. He cried out in fury and with so much anger, "YOU CAN'T HAVE HER!" As he used what strength he had left to use his telekinesis to vault them up into the trees, without the soldiers knowing where they went. A soldier nearby radioed to Gundersen, "Sir, they've disappeared without a trace." "Well find them you idiots, and second level elite teams move in." The second level elite team moved in, searching for them leaving not one piece of the countryside and forest unchecked. Kurtis sensed that they were gaining on them, so he tried to wake up Lara quietly. After removing the two darts from her back, he tried shaking her a little. That didn't work, so he kissed her, and whispered, "Lara, you must wake up."  
  
She started to come around, although she was about to scream, so Kurtis held his hand over her mouth and whispered, "Sh.you must be quiet." She shook her head in agreement as he removed his hand from her mouth, and she whispered to him, "Kurtis.." "What?" "I love you, Kurtis." "I love you too, Lara, and I promise not to fail you." "Since I fear that this isn't going to end pretty, if they get me, promise me that you'll get of here, and.." Kurtis looked down and notice that the were right their below them, he held Lara close to him and put his hand over her mouth to keep her quiet again. He feared that's this might be the end of this situation, and it wasn't going to end pretty, since there was no place for them to hide.  
  
Karel had a team working on the reconstruction of a new and improved lab left in a helicopter to meet up with where Mr. Gundersen was. Karel stepped out of the helicopter and walked over to Mr. Gundersen. Karel said, "I thought Mrs. Vorchnicov didn't want you to get in the way." "She called me and told me to step in, sir." "Very well then, but plans have changed." "Sir." "Call your men off immediately and leave Mrs. Croft and Mr. Trent alone." Mr. Gundersen didn't question the boss, so he went ahead and called his men off, and told them to go back to the base. "Please have a little faith in me, Mr. Gundersen." "Yes, sir." "Mrs. Croft and Mr. Trent if you are nearby please come down, so we can talk." Lara whispered to Kurtis, "All the soldiers have been called off, and apparently some guy wants us to come down and talk." "I'll go down and talk, you stay her and keep quiet, okay." "Okay, please be careful, Kurtis," she mentioned, as she gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Kurtis hopped down out of the tree to see the two people from his nightmare standing just a short distance away from where he was. He slowly approached them, going against all his instincts to stay away. Lara watched as Kurtis walked towards them. "Sir, why exactly are you doing this?" "Hush, because it looks like Mr. Trent is coming this way."  
  
Lara looked all around to make sure there was no sign of anyone sneaking up on her, so she got down out of the tree, and followed after Kurtis. Although little did she know that Mila was hot on her trail, and has been ever since Kurtis and her left the city. Mila quickly came up behind Lara, and grabbed her. Lara tried to get out of her grip, but Mila put a knife to her neck and said with a strong Russian accent, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, or I'll slit your throat." "What do you want with me," protested Lara. "Just wait and see, Lady Croft." Mila took Lara to where Kurtis walked to, while Karel said, "Mr. Trent, where is Mrs. Croft?" "She safe and away from you." "Oh, such harsh words. Well anyways, I have a proposition for you." Mr. Gundersen saw Mrs. Croft nearing the group of them, but decided to keep quiet. "What may ask is your proposition, Mr. Karel, or should I call Nicoli?" "You'd better the attitude of yours, Mr. Trent, because it could get you in to trouble." "Kur." Lara started to say, but Mila had her hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. Kurtis looked over at Lara and then back at Karel, "So what's your proportion then?" "I would like you and Mrs. Croft to go out and retrieve a couple of artifacts for us." "Why so you can try to rule the world, and bring the Nephilim race back, no thanks." Karel walked closer to Kurtis, and said, "Like I said you should watch the mouth of yours," as he motioned for Mila to bring out her knife. Mila held the knife extremely close to Lara's neck again, while Karel stated, "Do you really want to see your precious Lara die right her in front of you?"  
  
Lara tried to speak again, but Mila moved the knife closer to neck, to keep her from talking. "So Mr. Trent, will you and her agree to do this job?" Kurtis looked at Lara with a saddened look on his face and answered, "NEVER!" Lara managed to get Mila to drop her knife, so she could kick her several times. Mila kept trying to keep a good grip on Lara, but Lara finally broke free and started running away, which Kurtis soon followed after her. "Idiot, you let her go." "I'm sorry, sir," apologized Mila. "Well go after them," ordered Karel. "Yes, sir," replied Mila, as she took off after them. Meanwhile Lara and Kurtis continued running and running to further their distance between them and Karel. Kurtis said, "I think we should find a way to get to Paris, and research these artifacts that were mentioned in my nightmare." "Okay," she replied, while Mila was trying her best to keep up with them. She manages to stop long enough to ready her sniper rifle, and fire it at them. The bullet pierced right through the skin of Kurtis left shoulder, but he kept running no matter how much pain he was in. Mila fired her rifle again, but this time Kurtis used his telekinesis to maneuver the bullet away so he would harm him or Lara.  
  
A few minutes later Kurtis and Lara managed to make it into a town that had a train station nearby. They ran for the train station and purchased two tickets to depart from Prague immediately and head for Paris. While Mr. Gundersen said, "Looks they got away, sir." "That's precisely what I anticipated would happen." "Sir." "You see now that they have a glimpse of what we plan to do with the artifacts, they go research them and then go retrieve them. So they can try to stop us, but I've got a little trick up my sleeve. Because I've gotten a little secret to tell you, Mr. Gundersen." "What secret, sir?" "I already have a special team that I already deployed to Siberia to bring us the Nepherium meteorite, so that we can then locate and retrieve the second Sleeper." "Won't they try to go after that meteorite, sir?" "Probably not because they read somewhere that the one in Amazon can keep us for finishing our plan, so they go after that one first, of course." Karel radioed for Mila to come back, and Mr. Gundersen said, "Are you going have Mila spy on them, and go from there?" "Precisely." Mila returned and asked, "Yes, sir?" "I won't you to spy on Mrs. Croft and Mr. Trent and find out what they're plans are. I also won't you to keep in touch with me, so that I can tell when the right time is to bring Lara back to us." "I heard them mention Paris." "Excellent." Karel and Mr. Gundersen returned to where the Lab was being reconstructed, while Mila headed for Paris. 


	5. Chapter Four: Desperate Measures

The Angel of Darkness Continues:  
  
Chapter Four: Desperate Measures  
  
One day later, Kurtis and Lara arrived in Paris in the middle of a rainstorm, and Kurtis suggested, "Why don't we go to the small apartment that I rent here, get cleaned up, and go from there. Also, I still think I have that laptop of mine there that we could use to start our research." "Okay, sounds like a plan to me." So they made their way to the apartment complex, walked inside and to the front desk. Kurtis asked, "Excusez moi, Monsieur." "Oui, comment peux-je vous aider?" "Savez-vous anglais, Monsieur? "Yes, how can I help you?" "I need a spare key for my apartment, I lost the other one." "Certainly, sir, what is your name?" "Kurtis Trent." The clerk looked through the book and then he got the key for Kurtis. The clerk handed him the key, and asked for him to bring back before he went anywhere. Kurtis said, "Sure no problem, and merci beaucoup." "Votre accueil, Monsieur Trent."  
  
Kurtis and Lara walked up the stairs to his apartment, and opened the door. When they walked inside, he searched for his spare apartment key, so he could give back the one he borrowed back. After he found it, he sat both keys on a table near the door, so that he wouldn't forget them. He started to walk into the bathroom, and asked, "You don't mind if I take a shower first, do you Lara?" "Go right ahead," she replied. Inside the bathroom Kurtis stripped off his soaking wet clothes, and jumped in the shower. Five minutes later he was done, and he walked out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around him. Lara got a good glimpse of Kurtis before turning her head away to hide how much she was blushing, while Kurtis said, "The showers all yours." "Okay, handsome," she stated as she walked into the bathroom and her comment caused Kurtis' cheeks to turn a little red. Kurtis tended to his left shoulder and then put a pair of boxers on, while Lara stripped her clothes off and took a shower. Twenty minutes later Lara was done, and she walked out of the bathroom a towel wrapped around her. She asked, "Do you have something I could wear for a little while?" "Yeah sure hold on a sec," he replied as he got up off the bed to get her a pair of boxers and shirt. He walked over to Lara, handed the garments to her, and turned around, while she put them on.  
  
She walked into the bathroom to hang up their clothes and the towels, so that they would dry. Then she came back out into the bedroom, while Kurtis had a sudden vision. Lara asked, "Kurtis." "Lara, I remember hearing about a second so-called Sleeper." "You do?" "Yeah, I talked with a truck driver back in the Sanitarium, who was the guy that brought the Sleeper in stone from Turkey." "Go on, Kurtis." "Well he said something about there be another Sleeper in that same country, just in a different area of it." "Okay, so this prove that the threat of this new Sleeper is for real, correct?" "Yes, sadly it is true. The only thing I'm not sure about is with these two meteorite artifacts that they mentioned in my nightmare." Lara and Kurtis were now sitting on the bed talking, and Lara asked, "Do you remember from you nightmare, any mention of the names of these so-called artifacts?" Actually yes, I do. The one was called "Nepherium" buried in Siberia, the other is called "Malpherium" buried in the Amazon Rainforest," answered Kurtis. "Well that's a start, and did they mention anything about which one was which?" "Yes, they said that the Nepherium is the one that shows where the second Sleeper is and it revives it and the Nephilim race. The Malpherium is the one that when joined with the other it destroys both of the meteorites." "Well I guess, in the morning we should start research where this Malpherium is exactly." "Okay, but why not go after the other one, first." "My guess is that Karel could be a few steps ahead of us, and has the Nepherium, and was going to use us to retrieve the other. Then he'd take it from us, so that we couldn't use it to corrupt his goal." "I'm impressed Lara, that's a very good deductive reasoning. Although shouldn't we start researching now, though?" "Yeah, I suppose you're right," Lara said wish a disappointing tone.  
  
Kurtis looked at Lara, and said, "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "If it's about what I think it is, just relax. I'm not going anywhere, and I don't plan on going anywhere, will have time for that later, okay." "Sorry, Kurtis." "It's okay, Lara, I know this hard for us." "Why do you say hard for us?" "Well we care about each other, but I'm not ready to risk going too far with one another, and something bad end up happening later, or ruining what we seem to have with each other," explained Kurtis, and then he gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. Lara smiled and said, "You right Kurtis, we should be careful." Kurtis got up off the bed, to go search for his laptop, while Lara asked, "Do you think we could get some clothes for me tomorrow?" "Sure, no problem." A couple minutes later Kurtis found his laptop, when there was a sudden loud noise. He stood up and saw a bullet hole in the wall, "Lara, I think we've got company." Lara carefully walked into the bathroom to put her now dry clothes on, while Kurtis put on a fresh pair of clothes. "Kurtis, who do you think it is?" "Probably that assassin woman. Quickly lets gets some things together, and get out of here, before she closes in on us." While they were gathering some necessities, there was another gunshot that just barely missed Kurtis. Mila moved in closer and closer, while Lara said, "Where are we going to go?" "I don't know." "We could to my." Kurtis moved over to Lara to silence her and whispered, "I think she's spying on us." Lara whispered back, "So she must know our plans." "Sadly, she probably does and she'll go running back to Nicoli to tell what were up to."  
  
As they were about to leave they heard the sound of someone talking to her. Someone patched into Mila's location, and must have been talking to her on a cell. "Mrs. Mila Vorchnicov, I must request a chance to meet up with you." "Whoever you are, your giving me away," she replied, as she got up and left the area to finish the conversation. "Oh, I am so sorry." "Who are you anyway?" "You will find that out later, now please meet at Café Metro as soon as possible. Do not alert anyone about this, either, and come alone." "I'm on my way, whoever you are." The call ended and she was on her way discretely to Café Metro secretly leaving her recorder behind, while Lara mentioned, "I think she's gone." "For now yes, but she'll probably be back later." "Don't you think we've got just enough time to research what we need to know?" "Maybe, but we can't be sure." Kurtis walked over to the window to make sure she was gone, he took out his gun, and said, "I'll stand watch here, hurry up and find out what we need to know." "Right," she responded as brought the laptop out of the bag she had, sat on the floor, and booted it up.  
  
A few minutes later she was browsing the internet to see if there was any information on these artifacts. She kept searching and searching for a while, when she finally found something that may be useful. "Kurtis, you said that this Malpherium is in the Amazon Rainforest, correct?" "Yes, why, what did you find." "It says here that the Malpherium was created many years ago by a Nephili that was apparently exiled, and it went against everything it believed to help in this meteorite's creation." Oh my, but does it say where it's located exactly." Lara continued reading to look for a location for a few minutes, when she came upon an interesting fact. "Kurtis, it's not in the Amazon Rainforest, it's in the Tomb of Malphite. A couple Nephli used this tomb and others to create the Malpherium in secret, because the other Nelphilim didn't know about it until Nicoli stumbled upon it. Nicholi is said to be the only Nephli that knows about it, because he didn't tell anyone and he didn't even tell his own brother, Joachim Karel." "Where is the Tomb of Malphite?" "There's another problem Kurtis." "What that's?" "It said that someone besides the Nephili found out about this tomb, stole the meteorite, destroyed the tomb, and put it in the Louvre Gallery here Paris." "Why didn't we know about this previous, when were there." "It says here that it's hidden in a secret room in that gallery, which is heavy guarded with laser traps." "Lovely, laser traps again."  
  
Meanwhile Mila walked inside Café Metro, and looked around for the person that may have called her. "Welcome, Mrs. Vorchnicov. Please come and sit." She saw a man that resembled her boss sitting down at a table waiting for her to sit down, so she did what he asked. "Who are you?" "My name is Joachim Karel, I'm the older brother of Nicoli Karel, the one you work for." "He said you were dead, sir." "Well we Nephilim don't die very easy." "You are a what?" "My brother and I are part of the Nephilim race, which were around many years ago that were trying to revive again," replied Joachim as he revealed his true self, and then returns to normal again. What I would to know from you, is what does my brother having you do my dear?" "He wants me to spy on Lady Croft and Mr. Trent to see where there going, and follow them." "Then what?" "When he tells me to, he wants me to kidnap Lady Croft?" "So Nicoli trying to succeed where I failed, is he. Well I think I'll have to go have a talk with him. Do you happen to know where he is?" "Last I heard, sir, was that he and Mr. Gundersen are where the Lab's being reconstructed." "Thank you very much, Mrs. Vorchnicov, I'll be in touch with again." "Yes, sir." Joachim Karel was now on his way to the Lab, while Mila returned to where was spying on Lady Croft and Mr. Trent to retrieve the tape recorder. While Lara was shutting down the laptop, placing it back in her bag, and said, "Kurtis, should we get going now." Kurtis peeked out the window to see if she was still gone, and said, "Yes, let's go, before she gets back." "Okay."  
  
Mila made it back to her location and played back the recorder soft enough for just her to hear. She has now discovered where Lady Croft and Mr. Trent plan on going, which is the Louvre Gallery here in Paris to recover the Malpherium. She looked in the window to see that Kurtis and Lara have left, so she knew it was safe to call Nicholi and let him know what's going on. "Yes, Mrs. Vorchnicov, what information do you have for me," questioned Nicoli on the other end. "Lady Croft and Mr. Trent are heading to the Louvre Gallery here in Paris to retrieve the Malpherium, sir." "Excellent work, Mrs. Vorchnicov." "Sir." "Yes." "You should be expected a surprise visit from someone shortly, sir." "Who would be coming to see me?" "He told me not to tell you, sir." "Do not hold information out on me, are we clear, Mrs. Vorchnicov." "Yes, sir, it's your brother, Joachim." "So my brother's alive huh, what does he know." "Everything, actually, except for the new facts lately, sir." "Okay, well I can't wait to talk to him, thank you, now be on your way." "Yes, sir," she replied as she headed for the Louvre Gallery, being careful to keep her distance from Lady Croft and Mr. Trent. 


	6. Chapter Five: The Return to the Louvre

The Angel of Darkness Continues:  
  
Chapter Five: The Return to the Louvre  
  
That night, Lara and Kurtis have now entered the Louvre and are cautiously walking through here being mindful of security. They cautiously continued walking up stairs, and through many halls, until they reached their destination. "Lara, doesn't something seem odd to you." "What do you mean?" "We haven't seen any security guards or anything," mentioned Kurtis as Lara studied the wall, trying to figure out how to open up the secret door. Lara said, "If I only I could figure out how to up this secret door." Kurtis decided to help her search to, when she said, "I found it." The secret door slowly opened up, revealing a set of stairs that leaded down somewhere. Lara slowly entered in this passageway, with Kurtis following behind, and then started walking the stairs. But little did Lara know that enter this passageway started setting off lots of laser traps at the end of it, and little did they know that Mila was in the Louvre going after them. They continued down what seemed like an endless set of stairs, until they saw a room full of red glowing laser traps of all kinds and a door at the other end. "Gee, lasers traps, lovely," stated Kurtis. "Did you want me to continue on my own, and stand guard here, I guess," suggested Lara. "Sure, but yell if you get into any trouble okay." "Sure, no problem."  
  
Lara made her way to the first set of laser traps, which were five beams horizontally going across, but were positioned on above the other with not much space between. Lara took her backpack off to carefully put it between the lasers, and then she dropped it. Then she crouched down into her stealth like crawl to maneuver underneath this set of lasers. As soon she had her self through the first set, she carefully stood up and studied the next set of laser. The second set of lasers vertically going up down with some space between them, so she pick up her backpack at put on the other side laser, and then proceeded to slither between a couple lasers. Now she was able to put her backpack back on and walk on ahead, as she did, another set of traps was now activate, although this didn't involve lasers. Two spinning discs came shooting through the air towards Lara with the first one missed her, although the second one hit her. The two discs landed in the wall back where Kurtis was at, while Lara yelled, "Kurt..." He holstered his Boran X, and ran towards Lara, because the first two laser traps were now disabled. Kurtis caught Lara in his arms, and they slumped onto the floor. "Lara." Kurtis took out some gauze and medical tape, then tended to her wound. "Kurtis, is it bad?" "You should recover just fine," replied Kurtis as he focuses and puts his one hand near her wound. He concentrated really hard, because he was trying so hard to remember how to telepathically heal.  
  
A few minutes later, Kurtis said, "I'm sorry Lara, I can't remember how to telepathically heal, which I learned years ago turning my Lux Veritatis training." "I feel a little better," stated Lara, as Kurtis helped her up, so they could continue their pursuit in retrieving the Malpherium meteorite. "Lara, are you sure, you want to continue on?" "Yes, I think I'll be fine," she replied as she stumbled a little. Kurtis steadied her, as they continue on and were now at the fourth set of traps. This time they were up against more lasers, which were down the rest of the hall up to the door, with others ones staggered between those, but up at above head level. Lara said, "Kurtis, how should get past this, cause I'm only slowing you down." "I'm not leaving you behind, Lara, because I'm sure that the assassin woman is on our trail." "How do you know that?" "I just have feeling that she's, okay, so we both need to be careful." "Okay." Kurtis studied the lasers, then he picked up Lara with her backpack back one, and asked, "Hold on tight, Lara." "I will." Kurtis took a few steps back, and said, "Here we go." He started jumping over all the lasers, and using his telekinesis to be mindful of lasers above his head, while Mila had now made her way to the secret door, and noticed that it was now closed.  
  
After numerous jumps Kurtis successfully got through the laser trap holding Lara, and they were now at the door. Kurtis carefully sat Lara on the ground, while he went to inspect the door, to figure out how to open it. He touched the door, which gave him a glimpse of the next room. Lara stood up slowly and walked up to a picture on the wall. She moved the picture aside carefully and pressed the button, which opened the door. Kurtis and Lara entered this next room, and she said, "I can see the meteorite from here." She started to move forward, when Kurtis pulled her back, because more laser traps came up. They were all around where the meteorite is, but they went horizontally, vertically, and diagonally making it nearly impossible to get close to the meteorite. Kurtis said, "Hey Lara, I've got an idea." "What is it?" "I think I may be able to telekinetically lift up the meteorite, which may disarm the lasers." "Why would it disarm them, if it's not supposed to be stolen?" "Oh wait, better idea, I'll telekinetically try to make a path for you through the lasers, so you can get to the meteorite." "Okay." Kurtis held his hand out concentrating on making a path for Lara. Lara watched as a path began to break through the lasers, without triggering them. Lara slowly began walking towards the meteorite, and as she approached it she looked back at Kurtis to check on him. Then she continued on, when she got up to meteorite, she checked to see if it was moved that it would trigger an alarm. Oddly enough it didn't, so she carefully picked it up and placed it in here backpack.  
  
As she started back towards Kurtis, the lasers suddenly came back on, so Lara froze where she was. Kurtis said, "Lara!" "I'm okay, kinda stuck here, but have the meteorite." Kurtis tried to telekinetically open the path again, but it was useless. Kurtis said, "Lara try to get back to where the meteorite was if you somehow can." "Okay," she replied, as she luckily was close enough to where was that she could make back there without hitting a laser. "Now shield your eyes, and trust me." So she obeyed, when it a quick move Kurtis whipped out his Chirugai and launched. It set off every single laser trap, causing a loud and big explosion. He caught his Chirugai, sheathed it, and made his way around some of the rubble that he created towards Lara. He yelled, "Lara!" She slowly stood up, to notice that the place was starting to fall apart, "Kurtis!" She carefully made her way across the rubble towards him, when pieces of ceiling began falling down. Kurtis said, "Lara hurry." "I'm trying to," she replied as she continued moving about the rubble, watching for the falling ceiling pieces. When she got to him, he quickly picked her, and maneuvered them out of the room. "Are you okay, Lara?" "I'm a little sore from earlier, but other than that I'm fine after what you did." "Sorry about that, but I couldn't telekinetically hold the lasers back, after you got the meteorite." "It's okay, now let's get out of here."  
  
Kurtis put Lara down, and they walked back into the previous room they were in. When there was a sudden earthquake like shake and this room started falling apart, so Kurtis looked around the room and to see that someone must of set off all the lasers in here somehow. "I think we've got company, Lara." Lara seemed to have ignored what Kurtis said, because she continued walking back towards the stairs. The room started coming down, allowing Mila to hide behind a piece of rumble, and then she aimed her sniper/tranquilizer rifle at Lara. She doubled check her sights, and fired two shots at Lara. Kurtis ran towards Lara to push her out of harms way, the shots luckily missed the both of them. "Kurtis, what are you doing?" "Saving your life," as he picked her up and ran as fast he could to the stairs. Mila aimed her weapon at Lara again, even though Kurtis was holding her, she about to fire again, when Kurtis told Lara to take out his Chirugai. "When I tell you to, Lara, let it go, and launch it around the room, hopefully causing whoever's in the room to move long enough, for us to escape." "Okay." He kept going around all the rubble that kept piling up, and said, "Now Lara." She threw it and he telekinetically activated the blades, and it bounced off the walls, and it came extremely close to Mila. Mila quickly moved away, also having to avoid a piece of rubble that fell down into the room near her. Kurtis continued on, Lara caught the Chirugai for him and sheathed it away.  
  
When he made it to the stairs Mila was able to fire one last shot, before they could escape, nailing Kurtis in the back. He had put Lara down, and said, "Lara, get out of here." "Kurtis, what's wrong?" "Just go," as he stumbled a little and almost about to fall over, but Lara caught him. "Please, don't let me slow you down, you must not let her get you, Lara." "I'm not leaving you behind, no matter what." Kurtis suddenly caught a glimpse of what was back upstairs where they first came in, it showed him that the place was completely surrounded by soldiers, that Mr. Gundersen sent in, following Mila, to bring in Mrs. Croft. "Lara, I don't think we're gonna to be able to get out of here." "How come?" "I caught a glimpse of soldiers having the entrance to down here blocked off, courtesy of Mr. Gundersen." They still continued up the stairs, because this area was rapidly falling apart, causing Mila to follow them up the stairs, also. Lara was following behind Kurtis, when she noticed his blood was staining his shirt. When they reached the top, sure enough there were soldiers that had the area surrounded, waiting for them.  
  
As they stepped out into the hall, Mr. Gundersen appeared and said, "So we meet again Mrs. Croft and Mr. Trent." Then Mr. Gundersen walked towards Kurtis, and asked, "Now could you please hand over the Malpherium, or else?" "Or else, what," he replied. "Or will kill your precious Lara." "You wouldn't because you need her alive, now don't ya." Mr. Gundersen was very surprised that he knew about that so he replied, "Maybe we do, maybe we don't." "Well you can't have her, or the meteorite." "I don't particularly like your attitude, Mr. Trent. Now hand over the meteorite." Mila came up behind Lara, and grabbed a hold of her. Lara struggled in her grip, until Mila took out a pistol and held into her back. Then she reached in Lara's bag for the Malpherium, but she couldn't find it. So she asked, "Lady Croft where is the meteorite?" "Where you can't have it?" Mila moved the pistol in Kurtis's direction and said, "Give it to me know, before I kill your boy toy." In an act of fury Kurtis brought out his Chirugai, launched it, and yelled out, "I WILL NOT LET YOU HAVE HER!" The Chirugai flew around the room, slicing threw all the soldiers, and then coming around and hitting Mila, grazing her back. Kurtis caught his weapon, sheathed it away, causing Mila to let go of Lara. This really pissed Mr. Gundersen off, so he brought his gun and was about to shoot Kurtis. Lara yelled out, "Here take it," as she pulled the meteorite out and threw it to Mr. Gundersen, while Mila fell to the floor in immense pain.  
  
Mr. Gundersen signaled to his sniper to shoot Lara, although Kurtis interfered by telekinetically causing the Malpherium to stop in mid air. "I don't think so, Mr. Gundersen." "I think your too late, Mr. Trent," as he signaled for his assassin to take Lara. The assassin picked Lara up, while Kurtis snapped around with his Boran X in hand about to shoot the assassin, but Mr. Gundersen said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." The assassin quickly took Lara away in an instant before Kurtis could even get one shot off, so Kurtis turned towards Mr. Gundersen and shot him. It didn't even have any affect on him, and he said, "I think you've gone too far, Mr. Trent." In a quick attempt Mila picked up her rifle and fired it at Mr. Gundersen. Mr. Gundersen said, "I'll be seeing you soon, Mr. Trent," as he and the sniper turned and disappeared from the room, while the Malpherium fell to the floor. Tears ran down Kurtis face as he walked towards the meteorite, and he said, "All this for this stupid piece of rock." Although before he could pick it up the bullet in his back took its toll, causing him to fall to the floor.  
  
Mila felt compelled to drop her gun, and help Kurtis. She then got a call from Nicoli, telling her that he has no more need for her, and will kill her if she decides to show her face around him again. She tried to say but sir, but he already hung up, which ended the call. She walked over to Kurtis, kneeling down to see if he was still alive, and found that he was. Mila asked, "Can you move.um.Kurtis?" "Who's there?" "My name is Mila Vorchnicov, and I want to help you." "Why should I trust you?" "Well I could have just left you here, and ran away, or help you." Before he could say anything else, she took out some gauze and medical tape from his bag, to patch him up, until she got him to the hospital. Mila said, "Kurtis, I want to help you get Lara back, and stop Nicholi and his brother." "May I ask why?" "Well Nicoli has no more use for me, and they took her away from you." "Why do you care?" "Because I think he'll end up killing her." "What makes you think that, won't he want this meteorite?" "Not really, because he already has the one he needs to go through with his plans. Also he will have no use for Mrs. Croft after he has do what he needs." Mila picked up the meteorite, put it Kurtis' backpack, and helped him up. Kurtis asked, "Yeah but you helped her get kidnapped, so why do you care about saving her." "First off I can tell from what you did earlier how much you love her and will do anything to get her back, it made me remember something." "What is that?" A couple tears fell from Mila's eyes, as she said, "The guy that took Lara away was my fiancé that left me a year ago. I still really love him, but I don't think he'll come back to me." "Why did he leave you?" "He left me, because he didn't want me to get in the way and interfere with his work." "Do you think he still loves you?" "I honestly don't know anymore, Kurtis." "Mila, I bet deep down he does, or else he never would have asked you the question." "Maybe, now let's get you out of here."  
  
So the two of them left, while Joachim had arrived at where Mila told him where his brother Nicoli was. Nicoli said, "It so nice to see you again, my dearest twin brother." "Is that so, Nicoli." "What brings you here anyway, Joachim?" "To join with you, and successfully revive the Nephilim race, that you and I belong to." "What makes you think that I will let you help me?" "Because as you and I know, this is the last chance at reviving the race." "Well my brother, I am happy to tell you that, we have Mrs. Croft in our custody as we speak." "Is that so, well won't Mr. Trent be coming here for her?" "Yes, of course." "So what do you plan on doing when he does?" "I plan on having him choose between saving the world or his love, Mrs. Croft." "Don't you think, you should kill him to have him out of the way permanently, Nicholi?" "Not until we have possession of the Malpherium, or else he could destroy everything, even us." "May I give you a suggestion, brother?" "Sure, why not." "Before I tell you, I must ask you, is the lovely Russian woman, still working for you?" "No, I got rid of her, I don't need her anymore, plus I had her ex-fiancé bring Mrs. Croft here." "Well then I bet she'll turn against you, help Kurtis, and come after you, and she'll probably try to get her fiancé back, too." "So what should we do about that?" "We should question him, and if he still loves her, we should chain him to wall along with Mrs. Croft, that way Mila and Kurtis would have to give into our demands." "Excellent idea, we should head down to where he brought Lara in, to question him immediately." "So you'll let me help you then." "Certainly, you seem to have some very good suggestions." 


End file.
